Wednesday, September 28, 2016

In 2009 Dengue returned to Florida after
a seven decade absence, likely brought into Key West by a viremic
tourist. Local mosquitoes helped themselves to an infected blood meal, and as a result 24 cases were reported in 2009 (seeMMWR: Dengue Fever In Key West), with another 63 the following year.

With tens of millions of visitors every year, it is inevitable that additional viremic travelers will arrive. The the most recentFlorida Arbovirus Surveillance Report (Week 38) reports that so far in 2016 the Health Department has identified:

6 imported cases of Chikungunya,

40 imported cases of Dengue

41 imported cases of Malaria

and 748 imported cases of Zika

And those are just the ones we know about. Many cases will be mild or asymptomatic, and so the real number is undoubtedly much higher.

So it comes as little surprise that over night another locally acquired Dengue case has been reported in Florida - just the second one of 2016. This time it is in Miami-Dade County, and a mosquito-borne illness advisory has reportedly been issued.

The Florida DOH site doesn't yet show the advisory, and details on the case are scant. The following report from WLRN Radio provides what little we know.